PRESENTED BY 




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MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



ELI THOMAS STACKHOUSE, 

A REPRESENTATIVE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA, 



DELIVERED IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 



FIFTY-SECOND CONGRESS. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

l893.. 






Resolvedly the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That there 
be printed of the eulogies delivered in Congress upon Eli Thomas Stack- 
norsE, late a Representative from the State of South Carolina, 8,000 copies, 
<if which 2,000 copies shall be delivered to the Senators and Representatives 
of the State of South Carolina, and of those remaining 2,000 shall be for the 
use of the Senate and 4,000 for the use of the House of Representatives ; and 
the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to have printed 
aportrait of the said Eli Thomas Stackhouse to accompany said eulogies. 
That of the quota of the House of Representatives the Public Printer shall 
set apart 50 copies, which he shall have bound in full morocco with gilt 
edges, the same to be delivered, when completed, to the family of the 
deceased. 

Agreed to in the House of Representatives February 18, 1893. 

Agreed to in the Senate February 24, 1893. 
2 

<3fft from 

Judge and Mrs. Isaac R. Hitt 
Ncv. 17, S31 






PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH. 



June 14, 1892. 

Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, it becomes 
niy sad duty to announce to the House the death, from heart 
disease, at his lodgings in this city, of my colleague, Hon. Eli 
Thomas Stackhouse, lately a Representative from the State 
of South Carolina, who breathed his last at 1 :30 o'clock this 
morning. His death was very sudden and unexpected both to 
himself and to his friends. Only yesterday afternoon he 
answered to a roll call in this House, was in his usual cheerful 
spirits, and seemed to be hopeful of the future and busy witli 
thoughts and plans for the benefit of his family, his constitu- 
ents, and his country; but later in the day he complained of the 
relaxation caused by the heat, and the atmosphere of this ill- 
ventilated Hall, and left for his quarters. He rallied during 
the evening, read the newspapers, or had some political 
articles read to him, and told his son, the only member of his 
family who was with him, that he need not sit up with him ; 
but about midnight the son awoke and found his father breath- 
ing laboriously. He immediately went to him and tried to 
arouse him, but in vain. The heavy hand of the fell destroyer 
had touched him. 

This sudden and unexpected death, sir, is only another strik- 
ing illustration of the truth of the touching prayer just offered 

3 



4 Proceedings of the House of Representatives. 

by our eloquent Chaplain that in the midst of life we are in 
death. 

This is not the proper time, sir, to enlarge on the virtues, 
the merits, and the services of our brother member ; but, of 
course, the South Carolina delegation will, at some proper time 
in the near future, ask the House to suspend its business for 
the xmrpose of presenting appropriate eulogies on the life 
and character of the deceased. 

I ask leave at this time to ofter for consideration the follow- 
ing resolutions. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow the announce- 
ment of the death of Hon. En Thomas Stackhouse, late a Representative 
from the State of South Carolina. 

Resolved, That a committee, consisting of seven members of the House, 
with such members of the Senate as may be joined, be appointed to take 
order for superintending the funeral and to escort the remains of the 
deceased to their place of burial, and that the necessary expenses attending 
the execution of this order be paid out of the contingent fund of the House. 

Resolved, That the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House be authorized ami 
directed to take such steps as may be necessary for properly carrying out the 
provisions of this resolution. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate the foregoing resolutions to the 
Senate, and that, as a further mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, the House do now adjourn. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to. 

The Speaker. Before declaring the result of the vote on the 
last of the resolutions just adopted, the Chair will announce 
tli*' appointment of the following committee: 

Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina; Mr. Lanham, of Texas; Mr. 
Cat<\ of Arkansas; Mr. Lewis, of Mississippi; Mr. Shell, of 
South Carolina; Mr. Jolley, of South Dakota; Mr. Waugli, of 
Indiana. 

The result of the vote on the resolul ions was then announced 
as above recorded; and accordingly (at 11 o'clock and is min- 
utes a. in.) the House adjourned. 



EULOGIES. 



January 28, 1893. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the special order fixed 

for this hour. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That Saturday, the 28th day of January, 1893, heginuin'g at 3 
p. m., be set apart for the purpose of paying tribute to the memory of Hon. 
Eli T. Stackhouse, lately a Representative from the Sixth district of 
South Carolina. 

Mr. McLaurin. Mr. Speaker, I offer the resolutions I send 
to the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the business of the House be now suspended that oppor- 
tunity may be gfven for tributes to the memory of the Hon. Eli T. Stack- 
house, late a Representative from the State of South Carolina. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a distinguished 
public servant, the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceed- 
ings, shall stand adjourned. ' 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be instructed to send a copy of these resolu- 
tions to the family of the deceased. 



Address of Mr. McLaurin, -of South Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker: The meed of unstinted praise is alone the 
heritage of the dead. u Be mortuis nil nisi bonum" is the 
revered adage of the ages. While living the veil of charity is 
thrown over the frailties of man, but the grave, with its solemn 

5 



6 Address of Mr. McLaurin, of South Carolina, on the 

mysteries, speaks in commanding tones, say nothing but 
good of the dead. Life would be more tolerable and joyful if 
the living could hear the wails of the sympathetic, the fulsome 
praise of the eloquent, and read the flattering inscriptions 
upon their own tombstones. But such can not be, for the his- 
tory of man's injustice is embodied in the history of " man's 
inhumanity to man." Mausoleums commemorate the truth 
that the dust of the dead only is perfect. 

Monumental praise is but the tribute paid by the living to 
the dead, by mortality to immortality. It is well that it is so. 
Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands of the 
living to mourn, and to carry it beyond the grave would be sac- 
rilegious persecution of the dead. It is then less embarrassing 
to eulogize the dead than the living, for the kindly veil that 
death draws leaves visible only the bright spots in the lives of 
the departed. But it is embarrassing for youth to eulogize old 
age. To do justice to the old hero who has attained his three 
score and ten, an intimate knowledge of the times in which he 
has lived and his peculiar characteristics, formed and shaded 
by his environments, is essentially necessary; for such are con- 
necting links between generations, and their lives comprise 
volumes of experience and achievements. I regret that my 
knowledge of the deceased was limited on account of our 
respective ages, and sensibly feel my inability to do full justice 
to his life and character. 

(Jol. E. T. Stackhouse, my immediate predecessor in this 
House from the Sixth district of South Carolina, was born in 
Marion County on the 27th day of March, 1824, and was there- 
fore at the time of his death in the sixty-ninth year of his age. 
He was educated in the country schools, and never enjoyed the 
advantages of a collegiate course. Before lie had completed 
the course he had marked out for himself he married Miss Anna 
Fore, the daughter of a neighbor. A long and happy married 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 7 

life and seven children blessed this union. Mrs. Stackhouse 
died only a few months before he did. 

The chosen occupation of Col. Stackhouse was farming, and 
of this calling he was ever proud, and persistently adhered to it 
through life. He was always in advance of the agricultural 
thought of the times, and was a bold and successful experi- 
menter. Without much money, but with an abundant stock 
of energy and good common sense, he adopted early in life the 
intensive system of farming, and was rewarded with remarka- 
ble success. In this respect he was a pioneer and exemplar to 
his county. The Little Rock community, where he always 
lived, to-day owes much of its prosperity and reputation as a 
farming section to his influence and example. In fact, the 
entire State recognized his worth and progressiveness. He 
was elected by his county to the legislature, became the first 
president of the State Alliance, and afterwards a member of 
this body. 

Never before in the history of the State had such honorable 
recognition been accorded a simple farmer. In 1861 Col. 
Stackhouse entered the Confederate army from Marion 
County as captain of a company which was incorporated in 
the Eighth South Carolina Regiment. In April, 1861, the regi- 
ment, under Col. Cash, entered service in Charleston, where it 
remained until after the surrender of Fort Sumter. It was 
then transferred to Virginia, where it became a part of the 
historic army of Northern Virginia, with which it remained 
until after the surrender at Appomattox. From captain he 
was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and then colonel, which 
latter position he held at the surrender. 

Although advanced in middle life when South Carolina 
seceded, yet in reponse to his patriotic impulses he was one of 
the first to volunteer and one of the last to retire from service. 
He fought not for glory but from a sense of duty, and the con- 



8 Address of Mr. McLaurin, of South Carolina, on the 

sciousness that the cause of his State was a righteous one. 
When the crisis came in which the Southern Confederacy col- 
lapsed and its cause was chronicled as one of the lost causes, 
he was the same patriot he had been during the times of war. 
Few men who had attained the age of Col. Stackhouse when 
the war ended were ever able to so completely adjust them- 
selves to the new order of things. 

Men of my age can hardly appreciate what fortitude it took 
at middle life, after a crushing defeat, with the added desola- 
tion and misery left by Sherman's army in its " March to the 
Sea," for one to gather up the scattered threads of a broken 
existence and begin anew the battle of life. My only remem- 
brance is as of a horrid nightmare, the white, tearful face of a 
widowed mother and her little brood, where all had been 
plenty, dependent for food upon what was thrown away by the 
victorious army and picked up by faithful slaves. 

Amid these trying seenes of reconstruction Col. Stack- 
house exhibited the same traits which in war made his com- 
manding officer speak of him as the " steadiest colonel in the 
brigade." 

Pledging anew his loyalty to the Union and the Constitution, 
save as a memory he adjured the old South, with its traditions, 
and addressed himself to the work of building up a new South. 
He settled upon his plantation, gathered up the fragments of 
his lost property, and engaged with heroic energy in agricul- 
tural pursuits. When others were croaking and gliding into 
bankruptcy, he demonstrated the possibility of making cotton 
at a profit with hired labor. He was soon called from his retire- 
ment to represent his county in the State legislature. As a 
member of that body he made his mark for solid sense and 
sound judgment, although modest and unostentatious. There 
lie zealously advocated all measures looking to the agricultural 
interests of the State. His constitneney then aecorded him 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 9 

the " Well done, good and faithful servant " with as much sin- 
cerity as his late constituency did when he had finished his 
course as a member of this House. 

Col. Stackhouse was an ideal citizen, modest, unassuming, 
and imperturbable, yet firm, bold, and agressive in his convic- 
tions. Conservative, cautious, and slow, yet advanced, patri- 
otic, and pertinacious in his actions, his was a versatile stamp 
of citizenship. Old theories were not adhered to for their 
antiquity, nor were prevailing ideas adopted because they 
were entertained by the multitude. He was ever ready to 
accommodate himself to changed conditions in agriculture, poli- 
tics, or anything else, and to adopt progressive ideas and 
methods. He followed what his convictions taught him was 
right in spite of criticism or opposition. He thought for him- 
self, and was no truculent follower of majorities, but sought to 
be a molder of public opinion and leader of men. 

Devotion and faithfulness characterized his relations as a 
father, husband, and friend. In his family circle he was the 
household god. To his friends he was the soul of honor. To 
his country and State, his loyalty was ardent and invincible. 
To the people who honored and loved him, he was as true as 
steel, and to his God he was always the humble and obedient 
servant. Strong common sense, an almost infallible judgment, 
and a profound knowledge of human nature were his conspic- 
uous intellectual qualities. 

Candor, sincerity, and conscientiousness were his predomi- 
nating graces. Indomitable energy, scrupulous honesty, and 
fidelity to his friends were the mainsprings of his success in 
his industrial and political life. A combination of all these 
qualities made him an American Cincinnatus. He was a 
humane man and master. During the existence of slavery he 
taught those held in bondage by him to read and write. 
There was a statute in South Carolina prohibiting this, but he 



10 Address of Mr. McLaurin, of South Carolina, on the 

felt that his obligation to his God was higher and more sacred 
than anything else. To do this required moral courage and a 
Christianity that embraced in its charity the whole brother- 
hood of man. It was his custom to assemble his slaves at the 
gin-house every Sunday afternoon to teach them the way of 

life. 

In attestation of the appreciation by the colored people of 
his humanity several hundred attended his funeral and testi- 
fied in every way to the esteem in which he was held. His 
neighbors loved him for his kindness and unselfishness. His 
charity in dispensing favors and giving aid and sympathy 
to the unfortunate, needy, and distressed was proverbial. Col. 
Stackhouse was a self-made man, the architect of his own 
fortunes. He was from the great middle class, the farmer 
class, and could boast of no illustrious ancestry, but depended 
upon his own intrinsic merit, his own inherent manhood, 
energy, and unconquerable will. 

Born and bred in old South Carolina, yet he was a true rep- 
resentative of new South Carolina, typical Carolinian of the 
new faith and new school born of the civil revolution of 
1861-'65, which wrought wonderful changes in the social, polit- 
ical, and industrial condition of the State. Had that revolu- 
tion never occurred, I hazard little in saying that the deceased 
would never have represented South Carolina in this body. 
The condition of affairs in the State before that revolution was 
peculiar, resulting from the ideas of the Old World trans- 
planted in the new and the attempt to ingraft them in the 
society and polity of the colony. 

In the course of time an aristocracy based on a slaveocracy 
dominated old South Carolina and completely controlled her 
social, political, and industrial destinies. This necessarily 
created two classes as distinct as the Patrician and Plebeian 
orders of Rome. The large slave-owners became the rulers 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 1 1 

and office-holders, and the masses of the people were regarded 
as unfit to govern. It was an intolerant, defiant, and uncom- 
promising tyranny, suppressing free speech, free thought, and 
independence of action. There was no irrepressible conflict 
then, because, from force of habit, education, aud a disinclina- 
tion to assert their sovereignty, the middle class succumbed. 

Nullification and secession were the legitimate fruits of 
this condition of things. This is a true picture of old South 
Carolina, of which Hayne, Calhoun, and Ehett were true 
representatives. The abolition of slavery was the destruc- 
tion of this system. The rich and powerful of the old became 
the poor and weak of the new. The workingman of the old 
regime became the enterprising and successful citizen of the 
new. The shackles of caste were removed and the artificial 
distinction of classes abrogated. The farmer and working- 
man claimed their God-given rights and boldly and defiantly 
entered the political arena. This changed condition did bring 
about an irrepressible conflict between the reconstructed orders 
of society. 

During Federal reconstruction there was a truce between 
the old political leaders and those developed by the new order 
of things. In 1876, by the united aud patriotic efforts of both, 
harmonized for a time by the common instinct of self-preserva- 
tion, the infamous carpetbag government, pinned to our backs 
by Federal bayonets, was overthrown, and the State rescued 
from the alien and the spoiler. As soon as this revolution was 
accomplished the old ante helium leaders sought to reestablish 
their autocratic sway. Political devices of various kinds were 
adopted to delude the people and drive them into their old- 
time supineness. Negro domination was perpetually held up 
as the inevitable result of agitation. For a time the spirit of 
reform and the latent desire and determination of the people 
to rule was kept in check. 



12 Address of Mr. Lanham, of Texas, on the 

But at last, like some mighty giant just aroused to a conscious- 
ness of his power by repeated injuries, the people aroused from 
their lethargy, and, trusting in their own might, determined to 
be sovereign. Theelection of B.R.Tillman as governor in 1890, 
accomplished by the general uprising of t\ie people under the 
leadership of Tillman, Stackhotjse, and others, was the culmi- 
nation of this great social and political revolution and one of 
the legitimate results of the reconstructive and evolutionary 
effects of the war cf 1861 . The economic conditions prevailing 
elsewhere of course also played their part. This irrepressible 
conflict has, however, we hope, about ended. In this brief 
picture of new South Carolina Col. Stackhouse occupies a 
conspicuous place in the work of reform and rehabilitation. 
As one of the people, risen from their ranks, their champion, 
he deserves their everlasting gratitude and remembrance. 

Full justice could not be done to his life work and memory 
without referring to the stupendous social and political revolu- 
tions in which he was a prominent actor. The eulogist of 
Miltiades and Leonidas could not do justice to their illustrious 
lives without at least a passing reference to Marathon and 
Thermopylae. 



ADDRESS OF MR. LANHAM, OF TEXAS. 

Mr. Speaker: It was a sharp and sudden summons which 
removed from our midst the venerable form of Col. Stack- 
house. il At such an hour as we thought not," its service w a s 
had upon him. Tt is doubtful if even he were premonished of 
its abrupt approach. We all remember with what surprise we 
received the tidings of his death. On the preceding day he 
was at his post of duty in the House, when none of us imag- 
ined it was for the last time. 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 13 

Believing, as we do, that lie was "ready" in all the work of 
spiritual preparation for the "coming" of the summons, it may 
be that its suddenness was, after all, designed by Providence 
in kindness and blessing. No protracted pain; no extended 
suffering; no languishing for weary days and sleepless nights, 
awaiting " the inevitable hour" and article; none of the lassi- 
tude and emaciation ; the slow and gradual but certain processes 
of physical disintegration; the lingering wasting away; the 
usual scenes and conditions which attend the last sickness of 
the body and precede the final departure of the spirit — none of 
these things superadded to the affliction of his death. 

Were it given to men to know in advance the very hour and 
circumstance of the fulfillment of their appointment to die, no 
matter whether in the near or remote future, the gloom of its 
constant shadow would make them miserable. "Blindness to 
the future, kindly given," renders life tolerable. Lift the veil 
that excludes the vision of the things to be, and personal history 
and daily existence would be encumbered with unremitting 
anxiety and ceaseless apprehension. It is well that " we know 
not now" what must be "known hereafter." 

Mr. Speaker, it seems not inappropriate that I should say a 
word on this sad occasion in commemoration of the good man 
who thus passed away. Being a native of South Carolina, I 
feel a or ea t interest in all that concerns that State and its 
people. My knowledge of Col. Stackhouse antedates his 
service in this body. I first saw him in the Confederate army. 
We belonged to the same command. He was a brave man and 
a gallant officer. He did his duty as it was given to him to 
see his duty. 

The sublimest word of our language was the criterion of his 
conduct. All valorous and chivalric men who had a place 
in the picture of the war will appreciate a just tribute to a 
soldier's courage, independent of the banner he upheld. The 



14 Address of Mr. Lanham, of Texas, on the 

time will never come to our ex-soldiers when it will detract 
from the stature of a Southern man to say of him: "He 
belonged to Longstreet's corps, and his record was clean and 
honorable." This may be truthfully affirmed of Col. Stack- 
house. 

It was late in life before he was called to represent his 
district in Congress, and his service was brief. We were all 
impressed with his dignified and manly bearing, his prompt 
attendance upon the sessions of the House, and the readiness 
he exhibited in the discharge of his legislative duties. From 
conversations had with him he led me to believe that tbe 
quietude and retirement of private citizenship and home-life 
were more in consonance with his disposition than was active 
participation in the excitement of politics, and, had he lived, it 
was not his purpose to continue in Congress beyond a second 
term. He was held in high esteem by his associates here, 
respected by all with whom he came in contact, and his death 
was lamented by all who knew him. 

Mr. Speaker, the surest and most reliable evidence of indi- 
vidual rectitude, from the standpoint of human judgment, is 
to be discovered in the estimate put upon a man by his imme- 
diate neighbors — those before whom he has " gone in and out" 
for years, who have had ample opportunity for the observation 
of his daily acts and the introspection of his private character, 
who actually know " the manner of man he is." Given the 
standing of a man at home by those qualified to bear witness, 
and it is not difficult to define the real credit to which he is 
entitled and the consideration of which he is worthy. As 
measured by this test the merits of Col. Stackhouse were of 
the highest order. 

As a member of the committee appointed by the Speaker 
to accompany his remains to the. last resting place, I had occa- 
sion to hear expressions from such witnesses concerning the 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 15 

opinions entertained of him, and the regard felt for him by 
his closest friends and neighbors. The funeral was largely 
attended by those who had been intimately acquainted with 
him. The universal and cordial tribute paid to him was such 
as to give assurance that u no tyettdr man ever lived." 

I was specially impressed with a remark made by a minister 
of the gospel, who, speaking from long personal observation of 
the virtues of Col. Stackhouse, said, " He was the gentlest 
man I ever knew." He elaborated his many excellent quali- 
ties and gave instances within his knowledge, in illustration 
of the gentleness and charity which adorned the life and con- 
duct of the deceased. The good words said about him and 
the generous and kindly things told of him were marked by 
the presence of the utmost sincerity and the entire absence of 
artificial post-mortem laudation. 

It may be declared of Col. Stackhouse that his life was 
a blessing to his people. His precepts and examines will long 
survive in their remembrance. The moral tone of the commu- 
nity in which he lived will long bear impress of his good deeds 
and useful influence. 

What more is there of and for a man in this world than to 
live righteously, die peacefully after the measure of his work 
is done, and return to the dust amid the sorrows and benedic- 
tions of those conversant with and affected by his record ! 

Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour? 
What though we wade in wealth or soar in fame, 
Earth's highest station ends in " Here he lies;" 
And "Dust to dust" concludes her noblest song. 



16 Address of Mi'. Davis, of Kansas, on the 



Address of Mr. Davis, of Kansas. 

Mr. Speaker : We are here to pay our tribute of respect to 
the memory of a departed brother. Eli Thomas Stackhouse 
was born in Marion County, S. C, March 27, 1824. He received 
a common-school education and was brought up to the business 
of farming, an honorable calling which he never abandoned. 
He was three times elected to represent his county in the 
State legislature. For many years he was a frequent contrib- 
utor to the public press on agricultural subjects. The main 
effort of his life was to elevate and improve the agriculture of 
his State and section. He was president of the South Carolina 
State Alliance several terms and uniformly aided and encour- 
aged every organization and effort for the benefit of farmers. 
He was also a trustee of the Agricultural College of his State. 
He came to the Fifty-second Congress as an Alliance Demo- 
crat, and early in the last session I became acquainted with 
him. Our seats in this House were near each other. I often 
felt the firm grasp of his warm and friendly hand, and enjoyed 
the benefit of his wisdom and judgment as to matters before 
the House, and profited by his intelligent conversation. 

Only a few days before his sudden and unexpected departure 
I enjoyed with him a walk of recreation upon the streets of this 
city, with little thought by cither of us that there was to be 
so soon a parting of friend from friend. 

The sudden separation of friends by the hand of death brings 
up earnest thoughts as to the future of man's existence, is 
this body all that there is of humanity? When dust returns 
to dust is there nothing more? Or is there a soul and spirit 
that never dies? Is this body of man the instrument and the 
soul only the music? And must the music stop when the harp 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 17 

is broken? Or is the soul the musician which lives after the 
instrument is worn out and laid aside? These questions have 
engaged the mind of man in all ages, and in no age of the 
world's history have men failed to hold to the doctrine that 
the soul is immortal. 

It is not possible that u a being so fearfully and wonder- 
fully made as man, and animated by a spirit still more fearful 
and incomprehensible, was created for the brief term of a few 
revolutions of the planet he lives on." 

It is not necessary to appeal to men who have devoted their 
lives to the study of theology in order to find arguments to 
support the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. Men of 
other professions and callings are equally confident of the fact 
that the spirit of man can never die. The mind of man con- 
trols the body from infancy to old age. The mind of man is a 
creator. The mind of man planned the pyramids and ancient 
temples. The hand of man obeyed the will, and each stone 
found a place in the massive pile. Fluted columns and sculp- 
tured arches sprung into existence. The mind conceives 
the poem which lives and breathes through all the ages. 
Empires are founded in wisdom and outlive the hands that 
made them. The works and thoughts of authors, statesmen, 
heroes, and patriots live as long as time. Then why should 
their authors cease to live 1 ? Even the dead matter of which 
our bodies are composed is indestructible. As matter it never 
ceases to exist. Then why should spirit, as spirit, cease to 
exist ? The thought is absurd. 

The mind as miud, the spirit as spirit, will live forever. The 
mind of man, akin to God, can stamp the creations of its genius 
upon the living canvas, and the almost breathing, speaking 
marble. It can marshal the invisible vibrations of the air into 
soul-stirring and soul-subduing melody. It can pour forth an 
eloquence with magic power to lash the passions of man iuto 
H. Mis. 103 2 



18 Address of Mr. Dam's, of Kansas, on the 

a whirlwind of fury, or to calm them into peace and quiet- 
It can control the elements of nature to do its bidding. It 
can record its thoughts on the printed page, and thus pass 
them down to ages and nations yet unborn. It can conceive 
of God, who lived before the earth or the heavens began their 
eternal rounds, and must live still while the music of their 
harmony shall endure. 

Shall the mind of man, akin to God, die and be no more? 
Perish the thought. Matter, as matter, endures forever. 
Spirit, as spirit, like the God who gave it, is eternal. 

With this view of the subject, sustained by faith, by hope, 
by reason, by science, and by revelation, we have not lost our 
friend. He has only gone a few days before. We shall meet 
him again in that other world, when, as friend greets friend, 
we shall again see him eye to eye, where there will be no more 
sorrowful parting. 

The poet Bryant has drawn a picture which is hopeful. Let 
us look upon it : 

THE OLD MAN'S FUNERAL. 

I saw an aged man upon his bier, 

His hair was thin and white, aud on his brow 
A record of the cares of many a year; 

Cares that were ended and forgotten now, 
And there was sadness round, and faces bowed, 
And women's tears fell last, and children wailed aloud. 

Then rose another time-worn man and said, 

In faltering accents, to that weeping train, 
"Why mourn ye that our aged friend is dead \ 

Ye are nut sad to see the. gathered grain, 
Nor when their mellow frail the orchards cast. 
Nor when the yellow woods shake down the ripened mast. 

" Ye sigh not when the sun, his course fulfilled, 

His glorious course, rejoicing earth and sky, 
In the suit evening, when the winds are stilled, 

Sinks where his islands of refreshment lie. 
Anil leases the smile of his depa it .lire, spread 
< )'er the warm-colored heaven and ruddy mountain head. 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 19 

" Why weep ye then for him, who, having won 

The bound of man's appointed years, at last, 
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done, 

Serenely to his final rest has passed ; 
While the soft memory of his virtues, yet 
Lingers, like twilight hues when the bright sun is set 

"His youth was innocent; his riper age, 

Marked with some act of goodness, every day ; 
And watched by eyes that loved him, calm, and sage, . 

Faded his late declining years away. , 
Cheerful he gave his being up, and went 
To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent." 



Address of Mr. Lewis, of Mississippi. 

Mr. Speaker : Once more as the cycle of years rolls around 
we find ourselves assembled under circumstances of solemnity 
to pay honor to the memory of a deceased member of the 
House of Eepresentatives. Col. Eli T. Stackhouse was 
born in Marion County, S. C, March 27, 1824. He received 
his education at the country schools, taught four years, and 
in 1847 settled on a farm, where he lived a progressive and 
prosperous farmer, until 1861, when he entered the Confederate 
army, and was elected captain of the Marion Guards. 

He rose to the rank of major, lieutenant-colonel, aud colonel, 
and in every position which he occupied aud in every emer- 
gency which he was called upon to meet in the vicissitudes of 
a long and fearfully destructive war he proved himself a sol- 
dier of the highest qualities. Whether in the camp of winter, 
on the line of march, or in the bristling array of a charge ou 
the enemy, he was the same calm, self-adjusted, fearless sol- 
dier, and even when the crested waves of battle broke at his 
feet his brave heart beat with a steady throb and his steel- 
grey eye looked with undaunted vision on the face of war's 



20 Address of Mr. Lewis, of Mississippi, on the 

most fearful aspect. Mild and gentle in bis manners almost 
to the verge of effeminacy, lie was yet in the highest, broadest, 
and best sense of the word a man. 

His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, " This was a man!" 

The godlike sentiment, "One touch of nature makes the 
whole world kin," found in his life beautiful illustration. To 
the poor he was a benefactor, to the good a companion, and to 
all an example. 

It was my pleasure and good fortune to have been intimately 
associated with Col. Stackhouse during the first session of 
the Fifty-second Congress. I knew him not only in the halls 
of Congress, where many men are made somewhat artificial by 
the self-imposed restraints of conventional life, but I also knew 
him in the free and undisturbed communion of daily private 
life, and in both relations he was the same plain, honest, sin- 
cere, and noble man. 

Unaffected by the influences which lead weak men to incon- 
sistency and wrong, he held to the undeviating course of his 
life with modest yet unshaken courage. He measured all his 
motives and acts by the highest human standard, always clear 
to him in the light of a tender Christianity that unceasingly 
welled up from the depths of his great soul. Mr. Speaker, the 
abnormal development of a few strong traits of character, pro- 
jecting a man far out in advance of his fellows, even when not 
marred by the attendance of many weaknesses, does not in 
my judgment fill the largest measure of possible greatness. 

There is a sense of propriety, an element of proportion, a 
rule of symmetry that must be observed in fashioning the 
grandest and noblest lives, as well as in chiseling the rarest 
models of sculpture or painting the brightest gems of pictures. 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhonse. 21 

To the well-rounded and most symmetrical characters we may 
look for greatest and best results, as well as for brightest and 
most useful examples. To this catalogue belongs the name of 
Col. Stackhouse. His life was full of usefulness and success, 
and as an exhibition of the possible achievements of American 
citizenship, unaided by the adventitious increments of fortune, 
stands out as a shining and hopeful example to aspiring youth 
wherever blessed by the muniments of a Government like ours. 

Though prepared for the summons to the untried beyond, 
death came to Col. Stackhouse in an unexpected hour. So 
swift and noiseless were the steps of the inexorable messenger, 
I knew not till the dawn of another day, though under the 
same roof, that his spirit had left its temporal tenement of clay 
to abide in a house with many mansions, not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. 

The invocation of the gifted poetess, that death might not 
say to her "Good night," was perfectly answered in the death 
of him whom we now honor : 

Life! I know not what thou art, 
But know that thou and I must part; 
Aud when or how or where Ave met, 
I own to me's a secret yet. 

Oh, whither dost thou fly? 

Where bends unseen thy trackless course? 

And in this strange divorce, 

Oh, tell where I must seek this compound I. 

To the vast ocean of empyreal flame, 

From whence thy essence came, 

Dost thou thy flight pursue when freed 

From matter's base encumbering need? 

Or dost thou, hid from sight, 

Wait, like some spellbound knight, 

Through blank oblivious years the appointed hour 

To break thy trance and reassume thy power? 

Yet cans't thou without thought or feeling be? 

O, say what thou art, when no more thou'rt thee! 



22 Address of Mr. Lewis, of Mississippi, on the 

Life! we've been long together 

Through pleasant and through cloudy weather; 

'Tis hard to part when friends are dear; 

Perhaps 't will cost a sigh, a tear ; 

Then steal away, give little warning, 

Choose thine own time ; 

Say not "Good night", but in some brighter clime 

Bid me " Good morning." 

Col. Stackhouse was born and raised 011 a farm, and was 
accustomed to manual labor. The beginning of the war found 
him a prosperous and happy farmer, with an accomplished and 
devoted wife and three lovable children. What stronger ties 
could a man have to entwine him to life ? Still at the first call 
of patriotism he committed his life to the casualties of war. 
After four years of gallant service he returned home with 
broken health to a wasted faiyn and an empty exchequer, with 
the superadded misfortune of a large indebtedness by reason of 
surety for other men. 

By a skillful system of extensive farming he soon carried his 
farm beyond its erstwhile figures of products and in a few 
years by farming alone he paid every cent with interest for 
which he was surety, and besides added several thousand dol- 
lars to his modest fortune. Successful in the highest degree, 
and beloved, honored, and exalted by those who knew him 
best, it seems not unreasonable that we might have expected 
of him some degree of indulgence in that sense of self-gratifica- 
tion which most self-made men feel and but few can all conceal. 
Yet in his life there was no trace of self-exaltation. 

His whole life, though not voiced in words, was a touching 
tribute to the beautiful sentiments expressed in the following 
gem of poetry : 

Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 
Like a swift-lleeting meteor, a fast-Hying cloud, 
A Hash of the lightning, a hreak of the wave. 
Mm passeth from life to liis rest in the grave. 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 23 

The leaves of the oak and the willows shall fade, 
Be scattered around, and together he laid, 
And the young and the old, and the low and the high, 
Shall molder to dust and together shall lie. 

The hand of the king that the scepter hath borne, 
The brow of the priest that the miter hath worn, 
The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave, 
Are hidden and lost in the depth of the grave. 

The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap, 
The herdsman who climbed with his goats up the steep ; 
The beggar who wandered in search of his bread 
Have faded away like the grass that we tread. 

The saint who enjoyed the communion of heaven, 
The sinner who dared to remain unforgiven, 
The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just, 
Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust. 

So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed 
That withers away to let others succeed; 
So the multitude comes, even those we behold, 
To repeat every tale that has often been told. 

'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, 
From the blossom of health to the paleness of death, 
From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud — 
Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud? 



ADDRESS OF MR. SHELL, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Mr. Speaker : As one of the representatives of the State of 
South Carolina, I appear in its name to pay a brief tribute to 
the memory of Eli T. Stackhouse, one whom every citizen 
in that Commonwealth delighted to honor. 

I will not enter at length upon the history of the good man 
whose death we mourn, but it is so full of instruction, and has 
so much in it to encourage virtue, that I would not be excused 
if I were to pass it by altogether. It is impossible to forget, 
while we trace his career as a citizen and soldier, that lie was 



24 Address of Mr. Shell, of South Carolina, on the 

guided throughout life by a high sense of honor that never 
yielded to temptation, and never shrunk from danger. 

My knowledge of and association with Gen. Stackhotjse 
differ in some respects from others who may speak concerning 
him. Our acquaintance dates from 18G1, at the beginning of 
hostility between the States. The opportunities of his youth, 
as told me by himself, were extremely limited, but by industry 
and rigid economy he secured a fair education and for a 
while taught school. Very early in life he married, and for 
more than forty years enjoyed the companionship of his wife, 
who assisted him by loving counsel and a helping hand in 
securing a competency sufficient to bring comfort in their 
old age. 

For many years his wife was an invalid, becoming, as she 
did, a helpless charge ; but amidst all these trials and afflic- 
tions neither of them murmured, because it wars the will of 
God. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and all who knew him would testify as to his life of 
consecration. His hospitable home was open wide to every 
one who sought refuge, and he extended charity to all who 
presented the withered hand of poverty; he was the friend of 
the oppressed, and was always found on the side of the weak, 
without regard to creed or color. 

Inspired by love of country, like every true patriot born on 
Southern soil, he enrolled himself in the service of the Southern 
Confederacy and fought with distinguished gallantry until the 
end of the war. Gen. Stackhotjse never had an apology for 
his action in that bloody conflict, believing as he did that he 
was justified by a consciousness of right. It was during these 
years of service t hat it was my privilege to be closely associated 
with him; it wast lien and there that I became acquainted with 
the man, and the noble qualities that characterized his whole 
life. He was unobtrusive and courteous, with a disposition 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhonse. 25 

gentle and kind; these habits were prominent in his everyday- 
transactions, especially so in his own family, where he displayed 
unusual urbanity, never forgetting that gentleness of manner 
that always secured respect and admiration. So circumspect 
and correct was his demeanor, it was told me by a member of 
his own household that he was never known to express him- 
self impatiently in the presence of his own family. 

At the conclusion of the war the old veteran sheathed his 
sword, accepted in good faith the terms of capitulation, and 
turned his face towards the home he loved so well. The accu- 
mulated property, for which he had spent years of toil, had 
departed with his blighted hopes. Once more, with a resolute 
heart, he resumed the duties of husbandman; his success was 
equal to his merit, and in a few years, by constant toil, his 
labors were abundantly blessed, and once more comfort and 
happiness were secured to his home. 

Very soon, however, he was called by his people to represent 
their interest in the State legislature, which duty he performed 
with honor to himself and satisfaction to his constituency. At 
the conclusion of his legislative duties he returned to his rural 
home to enjoy the companionship of his lovely family and there 
remained for a season, giving personal attention to his delight- 
ful occupation, agriculture. He was again called forth to enter 
upon other important duties, in the discharge of which, by his 
assiduity and unceasing devotion, he endeared himself to the 
hearts of the toiling masses. He had scarcely reentered upon his 
usual avocation when his services were once more required, and 
he was placed, without opposition, to represent his State in the 
councils of the nation. 

In all these years just recounted, although our homes were 
separated by distance, we kept record of each other and occa- 
sionally met to renew the intimate associations formed when 
together engaged in hostile strife ; and it Avas again my pleasure 



26 Address of Mr. Watson, of Georgia, on the 

to be thrown with him in intimate association on the floor of 
this House, where he demonstrated in his short term of service 
the same excellent qualities which characterized him in every 
relation of life. He was a happily constituted man — firm as a 
rock, with a will unyielding to wrong. 

Apart from his nobleness of character, his participation in 
some of the notable events of our country's history would be 
sufficient to render him illustrious. Surrounded by illustrious 
men, wise in their generation, who are struggling to emulate the 
example of the good and great who have gone before them, he 
who so lately stood among us has been leveled with the dust. 

After a long life of disinterested public service, he 1ms " gath- 
ered up his feet " in peace, and gone to his fathers. 



Address of Mr. Watson, of Georgia. 

Mr. Speaker: Within the last few days we have been 
called upon to pay honor to three very distinguished citizens 
of the Republic; the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 
Mr. Lamar; the late Chief Magistrate of the United States, 
Mr. Hayes; and the late Secretary of State, Mr. Blaine. 

Far be it from me to deprecate a word of praise that has 
been spoken in honor of those eminent men; but I dare to say 
that the humbler individual whom we honor here to-day just 
as thoroughly deserves his meed of praise as either of his more 
exalted fellow-citizens. 1 have, in common with all of our 
people, the spirit of hero-worship which gives admiration to 
the brave leader, whether in war or in peace; but I have also 
■a profound respect for the humbler citizen who, in quieter 
ways, performs those lesser works of duty, which, after all, 
make up chiefly the golden threads in the warp of human lite. 

The distinguished citizen in whose honor we are speaking 



Life and Character of EH Thomas Stackhonse. 27 

here this afternoon was a quiet man, walking in the humbler 
paths of life, not distinguished according to the highest meas- 
ure of fame, but a man who discharged every duty honestly, 
fearlessly, zealously, and who won for himself a place in the 
esteem of those who knew him which sometimes those who 
walk more conspicuously never win. 

It would be utterly impossible to judge of this man appro- 
priately unless we took some account of his work. We have 
heard from those who knew him all his life some account of 
his deeds in the years gone by; of his zealous attention to 
farm affairs, of his discharge of neighborhood duties, of his 
loving kindness as a father, as a husband, as a friend. We 
have heard his comrades in arms praise his fidelity and cour- 
age on the field of battle. 

I only knew him in the latter months of his life, when I saw 
him discharging the trust which the Farmers' Alliance of the 
South had put into his hands, and I can speak from personal 
knowledge of the religious fidelity with which he discharged 
that trust. Prompt to answer to every roll call, punctual in 
the discharge of duty, careful in attending to the affairs of this 
body, conscientious in every vote that he cast, courteous in his 
dealings with his fellow-members, I hesitate not to say that a 
more worthy gentleman never entered this Chamber. 

There is something inspiring in seeing an older man take up 
the work from which younger men sometimes shrink. The task 
of the reformer is never one that leads to a bed of roses, and 
is never one that leads to the crown of roses. It is always a 
work of difficulty. He who rebels against existing evils must 
make up his mind to arduous toil, to ridicule, to misconstruc- 
tion, and to hatred. It tests the courage of younger men to 
throw the gauntlet bravely in the face of existing abuses and 
to say, " This thing is wrong and I will combat it." 

A younger man, however, is expected to do it ; but for an older 



28 Address of Mr. Watson, of Georgia, o?i the 

man, his hair silvered with age, his body bent with the burden 
of three- score years, and his spirit perhaps wearied with the 
collisions of life that had come upon him in former years — I say 
it is especially inspiring to see an older man grapple with the 
work of reform in spite of ridicule and abuse. 

The Farmers' Alliance of the South has been misunderstood, 
misrepresented, and misjudged. The fact that this man be- 
longed to it shows that it was not a mere movement in the 
direction of communism and anarchy; that it did not emanate 
from those who failed in love to the South, in respect to the 
law, or in loyalty to the flag. It came from men who struck at 
abuses. It was a protest against the condition of things that 
now pertains ; a protest, industrial, and against the system 
which gathers what the many make in order that the idle few 
may enjoy it; a protest, political, against the system which 
shuts out from control the great masses of the sovereigns of 
the land according to its law, and gives that control into the 
hands of the irresponsible and secret few; a protest against a 
condition of affairs which denies to 8,000,000 human beings the 
exercise of the franchise accorded by law, and which builds to 
the future upon the false foundation of the sectional animosities 
of the past. 

This man, in spite of the abuse and ridicule heaped on that 
order, was true to its principles, to its mission, to its creed, 
died nobly true to that greatest of all precepts that the citizen 
should discharge his duty in his own sphere with the best power 
that the Almighty has given to him; that he should be a mem 
ber of that sacred band which carries the light of honest 
thought, of brave speech, and of independent action down the 
ages. In this noble eoinpany are to be found the statesmen 
who think for those who will not think, the warriors and 
patriots who tight for those who otherwise would not have 
fought, that liberty may live. 



Life and Character of Eli lliomas StackJwuse. 29 

Mr. Speaker, as I have said, I have not words too warm in 
which to speak my praise of a man who lives up to this ideal. 
It is easy to submit, it is easy to agree, it is easy to bow the 
head at the shrines which custom has erected around us; but 
it takes courage to disagree, to protest, to lift the standard of 
revolt. Yet, sir, it is to the few, it is to the minority who make 
the protest in every age against its wrongs that we owe every 
principle upon our statute books which is worth the ink in 
which it is written. 

There is not among our laws, or in our Constitution, a single 
principle which we cherish and to which we owe our civil lib- 
erties that did not cost some brave woman her tears and some 
brave man his blood. The very principle that the individual 
citizen should have some hand in making the laws and in 
si 1 aping his government cost the life of Algernon Sidney one 
hundred years before Thomas Jefferson wrote it down amid 
the plaudits of all intelligent Americans. 

The protest of the minority in one age becomes the accepted 
creed of the majority of the next. The martyrs of one gener- 
ation are the heroes of the next. 

We of the South, Mr. Speaker, as you well know, have had 
peculiar conditions to consider. With the most earnest thought 
that our statesmen have given it, the question is not yet solved. 
That grand order, sir, of which you are an honorable member, 
and to Avhich you owe your election to this House just as I owe 
mine, and just as the deceased owed his — I say that grand 
body of men put their hands to its solution, and, with God's 
help, they will solve the question. They have done much ; they 
have done wonders. They have done it under eveiy dis- 
couragement; and I believe that they will finally succeed in 
bringing to the South a solution which will guarantee to us 
that success in the future which the manhood and the woman- 
hood and the splendid material advantages of our section 
naturally deserve. 



30 Address of Mr. Watson, of Georgia, on the 

No society can rest secure upon a false foundation. No sec- 
tion can open the doorway to progress when it denies to any 
large body of its citizens their rights under the law ; and for 
this reason we have dared to say in the South, and the order 
to which the deceased belonged has dared to say it — that the 
true solution of the Southern question and the very foundation 
on which to build up Southern prosperity is to give to all of 
its citizens equal and exact justice under the law, and accept 
the aid of all in building up the prosperity of a section which 
we all should love. 

Mr. Speaker, a doctrine like that runs counter to the preju- 
dices of generations ; runs against political teachings coming 
from those who have saddled upon the South doctrines of 
finance and doctrines of taxation which they utterly abhor. 
This doctrine, though sound, may not succeed in a day 
or in a week or in a year; but just as surely as the right thing 
does prevail, it will triumph ; and when we shall have done 
that we will open to the South — not to some of her people, 
not to one color other people, but to all other people whether 
of one color or another — the glorious doorway of a magnifi- 
cent future. 

There is not a man in all this land who loves that section 
more dearly than myself. I yield to no man in my profound 
regard for the integrity of Southern life, for its splendid courage 
as illustrated in a hundred battlefields, for its pure woman- 
hood, which has made our home life so sacred. We are proud 
other past, proud other people, and love every foot of her soil. 

Mr. Speaker, we would if we could change the industrial con- 
dition of that people. We know that her homes are becoming 
desolate, her fields stripped and bare, and her children wander- 
ing the earth asking for work and for bread. We know that 
many a brave soldier who went back after the war and found 
enough property to make himself comfortable is to-day home- 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhoase. 31 

less under laws more infamously unjust than any people have 
had to suffer since free government was founded. We would, 
if we could, give new life to the South ; put upon her pale and 
shrunken cheeks the ruddy glow of health and hope. We 
would put upon her bruised and bleeding feet the sandals 
of true prosperity. We would lift from her sacred limbs the 
sackcloth of grief and despair and array her once again in the 
splendid attire of the bride— the light of hope in her eyes 
and the smile of victory on her lips. We would, if we could, 
place her in her true industrial place in this Union; as proud 
as the proudest, as happy as the happiest— joyous, prosperous, 
free. 

But, Mr. Speaker, that can never be done under a system, 
political or legislative, which throws 8,000,000 of her people in 
antagonism to the others, which makes every community a 
scene of contention where injustice is adopted, where griev- 
ances are felt, and where no solution is offered. 

I believe, Mr. Speaker, that the work of Mr. Stackhouse 
was in the direction of solving this question, in the direction 
of having every laborer understand that the cause of labor 
is the same everywhere, having every farmer, white and black, 
understand that the cause of the farmer is the same; having 
every producer, white and black, understand that the , cause 
of the producer is the same ; and thus have them march shoul- 
der to shoulder to the redress of grievances— demanding laws 
which would insure justice to all. 

Happy is the man, Mr. Speaker, to whom it is given to 
complete his work; to find himself in old age surrounded with 
the evidence that his work is well done and is appreciated. 
Death found him ready. He was at the post of duty where his 
people had placed him. The long day's toil was done. Back 
of him he could see sixty-odd years filled with patient endeavor, 
filled with duties honestly discharged. Splendid was the 






32 Address of Mr, Cate, of Arkansas, on the 

record, lit to go to the high court of the Almighty. The even- 
ing of life coming upon him in all its quiet beauty found the 
arms of this sturdy reaper full of golden sheaves garnered in 
those long years of honorable toil; and as he went to his sleep 
I believe that his pathway was brightened by content and by 
resignation, and that the hope of the true Christian lit its 
sacred fires in his soul. [Applause. [ 



Address of Mr. Cate, of Arkansas. 

Mr. Speaker: It was not my privilege to know Col. Stack- 
house, except during his service in the first session of the 
Fifty-second Congress, and then for but a limited period of 
time. This was sufficient, however, to enable me to form an 
estimate of his capacity and usefulness as a Representative 
and his personal and social qualities as a man. Hence I shall 
have to leave to others who have had the honor to know him 
in his earlier days the pleasure of reviewing the events that 
made up a useful and honorable life, which was devoted to the 
service of his country and his countrymen. 

In the short interval of our acquaintance we were somewhat 
intimate, as we sat at the same table and slept beneath the 
same roof, and I learned to respect him for his dignified and 
manly bearing, his uniform courtesy, and unfailing kindli- 
ness on all occasions and under all circumstances. He was 
my ideal of the Southern gentleman of the old school, dust 
to all, honest in everything, "without (ear and without 
reproach." 

He brought to the consideration of public questions a clear 
and vigorous intellect and a conscientiousness that never tailed 
to discern the eight, and a courage that never hesitated to do 
the right. He had gallantly borne his part in the struggles 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 33 

of his native State ; bad heroically shared with his people the 
gloom of defeat and disaster, and yet there was no shadow of 
repining or misanthropy to mar the pleasures of his compan- 
ionship. He had known sorrow and bereavement, yet his faith 
in the justice and mercy of an all-wise Providence was not 
shaken. 

I was near him in the hour of his death, and when it was 
apparent that he had passed away I felt that in that moment 
there had gone from the earth a good man and a true one, and 
that on the other shore he was entering into the reward 
reserved for the righteous. 

Peace to his ashes, and honor to his memory. 

The resolutions offered by Mr. McLaurin were agreed to. 
The House then, in pursuance of the resolution previously 
adopted, adjourned until 2 o'clock p. in., Monday, January 30. 
H. Mis. 103 3 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



ANNOUNCEMENT OF DEATH 



June 14, 1892. 

Mr. Butler. Mr. President, I offer the resolutions which I 
send, to the desk. 

The Vice-President. The resolutions submitted by the 
Senator from South Carolina will be read. 

The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announce- 
ment of the death of Hon. E. T. Stackhouse, late a Representative from 
the State of South Carolina. 

Resolved, That a committee of five Senators be appointed by the Presid- 
ing Officer to join the committee appointed on the part of the House of 
representatives, to take order for superintending the funeral of the 
deceased, and to escort the remains to the place of burial. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate these resolutions to the House 
of Representatives. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously; and the Vice- 
President appointed as the members of the committee on the 
part of the Senate, under the second resolution, Mr. Butler, 
Mr. Kyle, Mr. White, Mr. Gallinger, and Mr. Allen. 

Mr. Butler. I move as a further mark of respect to the 
memory of the deceased, that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and (at 12 o'clock and 20 minutes 

p. m.) the Senate adjourned until to-morrow, Wednesday, June 

15, 1892, at 12 o'clock m. 

35 



EULOGIES. 



February 4, 1893. 

Mr. Butler. I ask the Senate to proceed to the considera- 
tion of the resolution of the House of Representatives announc- 
ing the death of Hon. Eli T. Stackhouse, of South Carolina. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair lays before the Senate 
the resolutions of the House of Representatives, which will 
be read. 

The Secretary read as follows : 

In the House of Representatives, 

January 28, 1S93. 

Resolved, That the husiness of the House be now suspended that oppor- 
tunity may be given for tributes to the memory of the Hon. Eli T. Stack- 
house, late a Representative from the State of South Carolina. 

Resolved, That as a particular mark of respect to the memory of the 
deceased, and in recognition of his eminent abilities as a distinguished 
public servant, the House, at the conclusion of these memorial proceed- 
ings, shall stand adjourned. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be instructed to send a copy of these resolu- 
tions to the family of the deceased. 

Mr. Butler. I submit the resolutions which I send to the 
desk. 
The Presiding Officer. The resolutions will be read. 
The Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has received with deep regret the announce- 
ment of the death of the Hon. Eli T. Stackhouse, late a Representative 
from the State of South Carolina, and tenders to the family of the deceased 
the assurance of its sympathy in their bereavement. 

Resolved, That the Seoretary be directed to transmit to the family of 
Mr. Stackhouse a copj of the foregoing resolution. 
3»i 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 37 



Address of Mr. Butler, of South Carolina. 

Mr. President: The Hon. Eli T. Stackhouse, late a 
member of Congress from the Sixth Congressional district 
of South Carolina, was born on the 27th day of March, 
1824, in the district of Marion, in that State. He died on 
the 14th of June, 1892, in this city, and was buried near 
the place of his birth and home, at Little Rock. 

Except when absent in the military service of his State 
during the civil war, Col. Stackhouse spent his entire life 
where he was born and buried. The high estimate of his 
neighbors, the many manifestations of their esteem and con- 
fidence in his integrity and ability, furnish the best tribute 
to his sterling qualities. 

He was reared on his father's farm without the advantages 
which wealth and opportunity afford, but he had that which was 
better, an honest heart, a clear head, and great tenacity of pur- 
pose. During the period of his youth his environments did not 
furnish many facilities for liberal education. This, however, 
did not deter him from individual exertions in the acquirement 
of knowledge, aud at 19 years of age he devoted himself to teach- 
ing for the four following years, meanwhile studying hard for his 
own advancement. 

He returned then to the farm and for the remainder of his 
life confined himself to the pursuits of agriculture. Residing 
in a section peculiarly favored with a most salubrious and 
healthful climate, and a soil well adapted to the highest state 
of cultivation, he improved these natural advantages, and by 
the application of enlightened methods and advanced ideas 
achieved a success rarely reached in the business of farming. 
In fact he may be said to have been the pioneer in South Caro- 



38 Address of Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, on the 

Una in what is known as the intensive system, a system which 
has brought so much of profit and comfort to those who have 
pursued it intelligently and wisely. 

Gen. Stackhouse held many positions of trust at the hands 
of his neighbors, and filled them all with credit and ability. 
He was three times elected to the legislature where he dis- 
charged his duties with that unerring good sense which 
always attended his actions, and with that independence of 
judgment and fidelity which invariably beget confidence and 
approbation. He was the first man in the State to advocate 
the establishment by the State of an agricultural college, 
where the youth of the country might have opportunity to 
acquire knowledge of the science of agriculture, and it was 
largely through his efforts the Clemson College, now in process 
of construction, was set on foot and provided for. He was 
selected as one of its trustees and contributed by his practical 
good sense to making it a State institution worthy of the 
beneficent objects for which it was instituted. 

He was elected president of the State Farmer's Alliance, and 
imparted to that organization principles which would have 
made it a most effective instrumentality for good had they 
been adhered to by those who succeeded him. So thoroughly 
imbued was he with the great and almost boundless possibili- 
ties of agriculture in the South that he embraced every move- 
ment tending to improve and advance it, and espoused with 
zeal and enthusiasm every cause which might alleviate the 
condition and enhance the prospects of* his chosen avocation. 

It would only be necessary to visit his model farm and com- 
fortable home to realize how far advanced he was in the 
science of agriculture and the intelligent application of scien- 
tific principles in the business of farming and how profitable 
he made that business. It would be a valuable objed lesson 
to those who are inclined to croak and decry the pursuit of 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 39 
agriculture as an unsatisfactory and unremnnerative avoca- 
tion. 

Gen. Stackhouse had been taught iuthe school of political 
faith with so many of his fellow countrymen that his first alle- 
giance was due to his State, so that at the breaking out of the 
civil war, when his State summoned him to arms, he obeyed 
her command and cast his fortunes with hers. 

He entered the military service as a captain and surrendered 
his sword as a full colonel. 

Here he discharged his duty with the same straightforward 
conscientious devotion that distinguished him in civil and pri- 
vate life. To say that he commanded the confidence of his 
superiors and subordinates would convey an imperfect concep- 
tion of the absolute trust reposed in his judgment and fidelity. 
He was one of the most unostentatious, unpretending of men, 
with habits and demeanor as simple as his honesty was rugged 
and his character without guile. Abstemious and prudent in 
all things, he refrained entirely from the use of intoxicants. 
He did not, however, judge others harshly who differed with 
him in this regard or fail to tolerate the opinions or habits of 
those who were not governed by the same strict rule. 

As a Christian gentleman he was without reproach, and I 
doubt if the Methodist Church ever had a more consistent mem- 
ber or one who lived more nearly up to his professions. Taking 
him all in all, Mr. President, it can be safely and truly said his 
State never produced a more honest man, upright, patriotic 
citizen or a Christian more devoted to his religious faith. 

He was elected to the Fifty-second Congress without opposi- 
tion, and so strongly was he intrenched in the good opinion and 
confidence of his constituents it is doubtful if he would ever 
have had opposition. He represented a constituency of high 
intelligence and great public spirit, and within the limits of his 
district are to be found the scenes of many of the brilliant 



40 Address of Mr. Gallinger, of New Hampshire, on the 

achievements of that unique Bevolutionary soldier, Gen. Fran- 
cis Marion. It is not too much to say he was a worthy repre- 
sentative of an enlightened constituency. 

His career in Congress was too short to enable him to impress 
his elevated character and sterling abilities on his colleagues 
and the country, but I venture the opinion, formed on personal 
knowledge, that he left with those who came in contact with 
him nothing but sentiments of esteem, good will, and confi- 
dence. If he had been spared a few years longer his sound 
judgment and faithful, patriotic performance of duty would 
have been felt in the legislation of Congress. He reached very 
nearly the Scriptural limit of three score and ten, and died 
as he had lived, honored and respected by all. 



ADDRESS OF MR. GALLINGER, OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 

Mr. President : My acquaintance with the late Congress- 
man Stackhouse was very limited, but I knew him well 
enough to recognize in him a faithful public servant and an 
honorable, high-minded, and useful citizen. He belonged to 
a class of men whose influence will always be felt for good 
in this country. 

An enlightened and progressive farmer, he labored for the 
upbuilding and advancement of the agricultural interests of 
his .State, and was always ready to lend a helping hand to any 
proposition that was calculated to benefit those who till the 
soil. Both as a practical farmer and a writer on farm topics 
he commanded the respect and confidence of those engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and was recognized as a teacher whose 
experience and training entitled him to a foremost place in the 
councils oft lie agriculturists. 

As a fit representative of that great interest his fellow citi- 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 41 

zens elected him to the Congress of the United States, in which 
body he served with industry, aptitude, and ability. 

It was my painful duty to serve as a member of the com- 
mittee appointed to convey the remains of the dead Congress- 
man to his South Carolina home. At every stopping place in 
the State some word of kindly feeling was heard concerning 
him, and at his qniet home in the country evidences of profound 
and universal sorrow were witnessed. 

The great audience that assembled in the church in the 
shadows of the pines was not drawn there by curiosity or the 
formal dictates of neighborhood duty. They were there to 
pay the last sad tribute to a man whom they loved. Whites 
and blacks alike felt and exhibited sincere sorrow, and the 
discriminating and loving tributes paid to his memory brought 
tears to the eyes of many of those present. 

He was buried beside the church, in the presence of his serv- 
ants, his family, and his neighbors, and as the grave closed 
over the coffin all felt that a good man had departed, and that 
the State had lost one of her best and most loyal sons. 

Mr. President, I turned away from that scene thanking God 
that whatever differences of opinion may divide the people of 
the States, it is well that death leads every heart to the con- 
templation of divine things — that it is well that in the South 
as well as in the North the open grave teaches the lesson of 
man's frailty, and of man's immortality as well — that under 
the Southern skies as well as in our Northern clime character 
means much, and that a life well spent commands the respect 
and admiration of all classes of people. 

I turned away from the grave feeling that the lesson of Mr. 
Stackhouse's life would necessarily be felt in every home in 
the community, and that it would be an incentive to higher 
thoughts, purer purposes, and better lives on the part of those 
he left behind. 



42 Address of Mr. Kyle, of South Dakota, on the 

A kind husband and father, a good citizen, a liberal contrib 
utor to all worthy causes, an amiable, upright, conscientious 
man, what better tribute can be paid to his memory than a 
mere statement of his virtues ? Mr. Stackhouse lived for his 
people and his State, he died in the service of his country, he 
was buried in the presence of those who knew and loved him, 
and unless our beliefs are a myth and the future a hopeless 
state this good man did not die in any true sense, but simply 
underwent a transition from a life of toil and pain to a better 
life of immortal joys and never-ending happiness. 



Address of Mr. Kyle, of South Dakota. 

Mr. President : The Fifty-second Congress, now drawing 
to a close, has been called upon frequently to record the death 
of some faithful servant of the nation. The ways of the 
All-wise Kuler are mysterious and past finding out. We are 
reminded that our lives are but a span, and that the Angel 
of Death is swift in his coming, calling us hence while in the 
midst of our duties. Happy is he who on rounding out his 
career has the consciousness of having served well his day 
and generation. His monument is already erected. 

The tributes of esteem and love from honest and loyal 
hearts furnish an inscription more enduring than letters cut 
in marble. Eli T. Stackhouse, late a member of the House 
of Representatives, was born in Marion County, S. C, March 
28, 1824. He had almost completed his three score years and 
ten; a life of usefulness and devotion to the State that gave 
him birth, Reared upon the farm, he choose farming as his 
vocation. 

[t is remarked by many that he was a farmer and that he 
loved his occupation. The general impression is, Mr. Presi- 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 43 

dent, that this calling is not held in as high esteem as in the 
early days of our Bepublic, when the immortal Washington 
was called from his farm below this city to the duties of state. 
If this be true it is a sad comment upon a progressive nation. 
Farming is a vocation commended and approved by the 
Creator and calculated to produce the highest development 
of body and mind. The best moral force of our nation has 
been found in the farming classes. They are brave, strong, 
courageous men, pointed to with pride as the nation's strongest 
support. It is not to our credit as a free and just Government 
that during the past quarter of a century this class of our 
citizens have been placed under the yoke of oppression, com- 
pelling them to unite in self-defense and to petition Congress 
for redress. 

The people of the new South well understand the present 
situation and the burden resting upon the farmer. Men like 
our departed brother quickly discerned the present drift; 
quickly foresaw the disaster awaiting their noble calling unless 
they asserted themselves. The farmers of his locality and of 
his State regarded him as a leader wise, just, and conservative. 
They showed their esteem and confidence in him by choosing 
him three times as leader of the State Farmers' Alliance, and 
by sending him at different times to the legislature of the 
State. He labored for the interest of all, white and black; 
and when he came to Congress he came as the Representative 
of a loyal and honest constituency who were looking for reme- 
dial legislation. 

Col. Stackhouse was a true representative of the so-called 
farmers' movement, in his State and the United States; which 
means a fair and just consideration of all interests and voca- 
tions, a thoroughly just and impartial legislation granting 
equal rights to all. 

He was a plain man of the people, whose heart beat in sym- 



44 Address of Mr. Kyle, of South Dakota, on the 

pathy with those who toil. His life was not ostentatious and 
yet he was one of nature's noblemen. He was proud to be 
numbered with those who earned bread by sweat of the brow. 

As a reward he possessed the confidence and esteem of a 
constituency who honored him by calling him to public life, 
and to crown his life made him one of the chief lawmakers of 
the land. He now enjoys the reward of one who has been true 
to his God, true to himself, and true to his fellow-men. 

Few can understand the burden of toil and responsibility 
which devolved upon those who, after a civil strife of five 
years, by which the land had been devastated and the labor 
methods of generations transformed, returned to saddened 
and desolate homes to rear again the structure of fortune and 
good government. 

The reconstruction days were dark days, and yet there were 
brave men who, having fought from conscientious motives dur- 
ing the rebellion, undertook to lead the people to conform to the 
new order of things, and who saw in prospect a new South of 
healthier growth built upon* the ashes of the old. 

Such a leader was Col. Stackhouse. Given to reflection 
and conservative, he was yet courageous in the face of duty, 
and in advance of many of his fellow-men in measures of 
popular reform. 

He possessed those virtues which combine to make the 
great man and statesman whatever be his vocation. His gifts 
developed through nature's channels until when the body 
faded from view his powers of mind and soul appeared all 
the more brilliant. His last days were his best days. The 
impress of his life is left upon the institutions of his State and 
his country; and when the summons came it found him at the 
post of duty, but ready for the introduction into a brighter 
life — the life immortal — the Christian's hope. 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 45 



ADDRESS OF MR. IRBY, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

Mr. President : I deem it a privilege to be permitted to 
lay my tribute on the tomb of Gen. Stackhouse, of South 
Carolina, the distinguished gentleman whose death we were 
so lately and so suddenly called upon to mourn. It is indeed 
a privilege and a duty, melancholy though it be, to speak of 
one who, having endeared himself to all to whom he was known, 
left behind him none but grateful and honoring memories. 

I can not claim an intimate friendship with the late venerable 
and distinguished gentleman who so worthily represented the 
Sixth South Carolina district in the Lower House, but I do 
claim, in common with many men of my ownaud other/States, 
that his friendship was something to be desired, that associa- 
tion with so pure and chivalrous a gentleman was something of 
which to be proud and to proudly recall. 

In such a case it might be better for me to say nothing, for to 
say little is to do but scant justice to the memory of a man who, 
in a great State, was honored in youth,, in the flower of his 
manhood, and upon whom a grateful constituency showered its 
honors and favors at the sunset of life, when his battle has been 
fought and won, when he had been prepared, soldier, patriot, 
and knightly gentleman as he was, to receive his eternal reward. 
I do not know that I could select trom the long roll of sons 
who have served her in late years the name of one that better 
illustrates the name of South Carolina than that of Gen. Stack- 
house. He received from his ancestors the heritage of a name 
as dear to him as it was of honor to his State, and jealously did 
he maintain its credit and its glory. He lived out a long life of 
devotion to his family and duty, and died wearing well and 
modestly the honors of a grateful and appreciative people. 



46 Address of Mr. Zrby, of South Carolina, on the 

This fact alone were enough to speak his most eloquent 
eulogy and present the fairest view of a most exemplary pub- 
lic and private life. We who knew him and who became, 
tli rough associations here, familiar with his recent domestic 
affairs, can not refrain from the thought that it was the death 
of his noble-vife but a short time before his own that hastened 
that of our dead friend; for it can well be believed that so 
sweet an association for nearly half a century could not 
be broken at his great age without the most painful and 
permanent effect. However this may be, the death that 
divided has again united the wife of spotless name and fame 
and the husband, both having enjoyed the full term of a quiet 
and beautiful life, and having parted in the full assurance 
of a happier life beyond the grave. 

I have purposely left to those who were his intimate friends 
the relation of his earlier life, and to his companions in arms 
his record as a soldier. For he, too, responded with all the 
ardor and enthusiasm of youth to the trumpet call to arms in 
1861, and bore himself manfully on many a well-fought field 
in a cause which with his last breath he would have pro- 
nounced sacred to liberty although doomed to defeat. 

lie was the true soldier, for at all times and in all places he 
kept steadily before him his duty to his God, and whether on 
the tented field, in the arena of public life, or in the domestic 
circle, Gen. Stackhouse was the Christian gentleman, as he 
was the pure patriot and gallant soldier. Of men of such 
heroic type as this we may say with earnest truth that "after 
life's litful fever he sleeps well." His whole career, indeed, 
was one of beautiful symmetry which was early molded under 

circumstances well calculated to leave their impress on his 
future character. 
In the quietude of a country hon i he learned and practiced 

the arts of peace, which were ever his delight, and. when the 



Life and Character of Eli Thomas Stackhouse. 47 

war was over, he returned to his fields to labor long, faithfully, 
and patiently, to begin his life anew, and wonderful was his 
success — a success that seemed like the benediction of Provi- 
dence rewarding a life well spent in the honorable service of 
home and country. 

If there was one trait of his character which rose higher than 
another, it was his love for his fellow- citizens, whose lot, like his 
own, had been cast to be worked out in the fields of his native 
State. So, he was ever foremost with tongue and pen to assist 
in the elevation of the farming classes, to lighten their labors, 
to better their condition, to seek with enthusiasm that their 
lines should be cast in more pleasant places. For this he was 
loved in his community and throughout the State, for his repu- 
tation as a benefactor of his people through the Alliance and 
otherwise is a part of the recent history of South Carolina. 

Gen. Stackhouse, it may be truly said, even in the stormy 
and revolutionary days through which his State has passed, was 
not an agitator in the ordinary sense of the word. Behind all 
of his manifold good works and efforts for relief was the consci- 
entious impulse to do right and impartial justice, and, guided 
by a sense of such duty, his work was fearlessly and honorably 
done. It is scarcely necessary to add that he was a man of 
indomitable courage, energy, and inflexibility of purpose. 

On the field of battle promotion for him was as rapid as it 
was well merited, and in political life he asked only a fair field 
and no favor. His domestic relations were of singular sweet- 
ness, his amiability and endearing disposition being household 
words in his community. 

And so as we hold up in brief review such a life as this and 
regard it from the political, social, or moral standpoint, the 
thought comes to us unbidden that "this was a man indeed," 
whose every public act was an unwritten eulogy, every domes- 
tic relation a virtue. 



48 Address of Mr. Irby, of South Carolina. 

I could say no more, Mr. President, unless it were in ampli- 
fication of tliese sentiments of honor, respect, and esteem for 
the deceased, which I am conscious I have but inadequately 
expressed. A loving son of a devoted mother State, the 
exemplary husband, the cherishing father, the knightly soldier 
and Christian gentleman, who fought well the good fight and 
who triumphed in the end, sleeps his last sleep. 

What words could add luster to the brightness of such a rec- 
ord or increase the glory of a crown so nobly won? And yet 
on this day, set apart to do honor to his memory, I could not 
fail to avail myself of the opportunity to lay with reverent 
and affectionate feeling my humble chaplet on the tomb of a 
citizen of my native State, who did so much to illustrate her 
brightest history by the integrity of his character, by heroic 
sacrifice, and honorable achievement. 

Mr. President, I move the adoption of the resolutions sub- 
mitted by my colleague. 

The resolutions were agreed to unanimously. 

Mr. Irby. As a further mark of respect to the memory of 
the deceased, I move that the Senate do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to; and (at 5 o'clock and 25 minutes 
p. m.) the Senate adjourned until Monday, February 6, 1893, 
at 11 o'clock a. m. 



